night will follow day
by siren of titan
Summary: small town, big secrets. Bella grows up thinking one thing only to discover nothing is as it seems and she is more powerful than what she was led to believe. Taken in by her aunt and Uncle, she feels like an outsider and treated by many as such. But she's determined to find her way and a place she belongs. Could she find that place with Edward or is that just not in the stars?
1. Chapter 1

**Backstory**

Stonington, Ct is a fairly small town, quaint looking place. It has been around for quite some time, in one form or another. It's a place you might picturing yourself going if you wanted to visit a nice bed and breakfast and see the foliage change. Of course, not too many outsiders visit. Something stopping them, keeping them away, without them even knowing it.

A majority of the residents in Stonington are every day, ordinary people. But Stonington is home to a collection of families, who were drawn there a very long time ago. Their origins, known to only direct decedents, made them who they are today; what they evolve into with every passing generation. But their ways are ones that need to be kept hidden from the outside world. They have to protect themselves and carry the burden between the light and dark.

The town had been threatened before: During the American Revolution and in the War of 1812. The British threatened to destroy it. But they had no idea what they were truly up against. There were forces there –those people drawn to this land- The British never stood a chance.

In history class you might read about the note that said: "We shall defend the place to the last extremity; should it be destroyed, we shall perish in its ruins."

It is their duty to protect it, because it is a part of them…and that's what they have been doing for hundreds of years, growing stronger over time, but fewer.

A prophecy was spoken of dark times ahead. It stated, the darkness was coming soon. The true fight was just beginning, though it seemed to have been written in the stars hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

The question no one seemed to know was, how would this story end…

**Note: I read a story with a similar plot line that I really liked, but didn't want to write something too similar, so I debated it. Recently I've seen someone else do a plot line along the same lines. So I figure, why not, right. I've had this idea for a while but totally admit to using story ideas from other stories, so I hope people don't get mad. I promise, aside from some plot ideas, this story is my own.**

**I am reworking the start because I tried to write in third person but failed . It will be in Bella's view**


	2. Chapter 2

**Backstory**

Stonington, Ct is a fairly small town, quaint looking place. It has been around for quite some time, in one form or another. It's a place you might picturing yourself going if you wanted to visit a nice bed and breakfast and see the foliage change. Of course, not too many outsiders visit. Something stopping them, keeping them away, without them even knowing it.

A majority of the residents in Stonington are every day, ordinary people. But Stonington is home to a collection of families, who were drawn there a very long time ago. Their origins, known to only direct decedents, made them who they are today; what they evolve into with every passing generation. But their ways are ones that need to be kept hidden from the outside world. They have to protect themselves and carry the burden between the light and dark.

The town had been threatened before: During the American Revolution and in the War of 1812. The British threatened to destroy it. But they had no idea what they were truly up against. There were forces there –those people drawn to this land- The British never stood a chance.

In history class you might read about the note that said: "We shall defend the place to the last extremity; should it be destroyed, we shall perish in its ruins."

It is their duty to protect it, because it is a part of them…and that's what they have been doing for hundreds of years, growing stronger over time, but fewer.

A prophecy was spoken of dark times ahead. It stated, the darkness was coming soon. The true fight was just beginning, though it seemed to have been written in the stars hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

The question no one seemed to know was, how would this story end…

**Note: I read a story with a similar plot line that I really liked, but didn't want to write something too similar, so I debated it. Recently I've seen someone else do a plot line along the same lines. So I figure, why not, right. I've had this idea for a while but totally admit to using story ideas from other stories, so I hope people don't get mad. I promise, aside from some plot ideas, this story is my own.**

**I am reworking the start because I tried to write in third person but failed . It will be in Bella's view**


	3. Chapter 3

I walked into my uncle's house and was greeted with absolute silence, which at this point is only reassuring. Emmet was still at practice, Charlie at work, and I was sure Sue was attending to some event, probably for some big party, thrown in the honor of some important visitor- tons of things to plan. We've seemed to be getting more visitors lately. Just that time of the century I guess. And to think if I had been born a decade early or later, I could have avoided this whole mess.

When Lumen have children, it isn't as sporadic as normal people. The women's biological clocks literally are set, so that a whole new generation grows up together, within a four year time gap. It helps that the aging process slows down and the birthing ritual only happens once every century. Can you believe Uncle Charlie is about 140 years old?! No joke.

Alice is only a year and a half younger than me. Emmett beat Edward by just a few months. He turned 18 in late March. I'm not so lucky. I have until February until I am finally recognized as a legal adult and free to be on my way. Which means college and unfortunately, the only free ride I have right now, happens to be the nice prestigious college, just 10 miles outside of town. For now, ten miles looks like a thousand, so I'll take what I can get.

I snapped out of my reverie of mini fridges and freshmen roommates when the phone blared out a sharp ring.

"Hello, Swan residence."

"Bella. Listen, I need you to get dinner started, so its ready when the boys get home. And I have some laundry that needs to get gone sitting in the washroom."

Sue paused momentarily, awaiting my reply of acceptance. I could almost taste her annoyance over the phone. Hello, to you too, Sue.

"Sure, of course," I replied, trying to sound compliant and end the conversation quickly. This sort of thing was nothing new for me. I don't know what she would do without me, nothing in this house would get done, probably.

After I hung up with Sue, I made my way into the kitchen and started in on making chicken tacos.

As I was dashing some spices into the pan of chicken, the doorbell rang. I turned the stove down, but left on the radio I had been jamming out to, to go investigate.

"Oh. Hi." I said dumbly, wiping the sweat from my brow, surprised to see Edward standing before me. Glare perfectly in place.

He didn't bother saying hi back.

"Do you have eggs? Mom needs 3 and she forgot them at the store."

"Um. Yeah. I think we do. Come in. Or wait here. Whichever." Why was I acting so nervous? If Edward noticed he didn't say anything. Instead he just brushed passed me, careful not to actually come in contact with me, and waltzed his way towards the kitchen. I was momentarily caught off guard before darting ahead of him.

"Excuse me, I didn't say blow me over and take whatever you want," I shot at him, striding over to the refrigerator and opening it up.

I grabbed the carton of eggs and felt its weight in my hands.

"Here. We have another one, so just take this one. There's probably a half dozen."

He held out his hand and snatched it from me quickly.

"Esme will appreciate it."

"Ok."Is my only reply. He wouldn't even look at me.

I busied myself by going back to attend to the chicken, knowing I wouldn't get much in the way of a goodbye from him. I Added oil to the other pan for the shells when suddenly the flame shot upward.

"Ow! Shit, that hurrr-ugh" I cried out my fingers throbbing in pain, as I pulled back, cradling my singed hand in my other.

Before I could take another breath, I felt a strong tug as I was pulled away swiftly, then relief as cool water ran over my hand. It was then I realized, Edward was the reason for this and that he was now touching me. He pulled me over to the sink so fast, I didn't have time to react. Now my back was pressed right up against his chest, his arms caging me in and his hands clasping mine as he rain them under the water. I couldn't even breathe. His face was so close to mine, I could feel his breath on my neck. Curiously, I turned my head to the side, to see his own expression. He had a look of concentration, staring at where the flames had licked my hand.

"Be careful." He hissed. " You could have set this whole place on fire. You're lucky, the burn isn't bad," he barked out. Why did he seem to upset about this, I wondered?

He continued to rub my hand, mindlessly, as the cold water soothed the burning.

"Its fine." I tried to pull out of his hold, but only ended up pushing myself further into him. It was a strange sensation being held by him; tingly and warm.

As if suddenly sensing our situation, Edward launched himself away from me. He checked the stove situation, as I examined my hand.

"Here, watch out. I have to finish dinner."

"First, you have to have Esme heal that burn."

"It's not bad. I'll be fine. I need to get dinner ready before everyone gets home."

"Just come on. It will take one minute."

"I'll have her do it later." I replied stubbornly.

"Fine. Do whatever you want" He used his hands and even tugged his hair, which he usually does when he's worked up or frustrated.

Then he stormed out the back door, slamming it loudly, making me startle on reflex.

"Jerk" I whispered to myself, stirring the chicken more harshly than necessary. My body still tingled.

**A/N: having a hard time getting this story started, but I'm just going to work through it, so hopefully, you stick with it. let me know whats what**


	4. Chapter 4

"Ugh, I don't even know why I'm going," I shouted, throwing the offending lilac dress off over my head and across the room.

"Because it's a celebration of a chapter of your life and how far you've come," Alice sweetly explained like I was a five year old, throwing a tantrum. "Plus, the after party is going to rock."

"People act like graduating is such a big deal, but I mean you almost have to try to fail."

"Tell that to Mac Casey, I'll be seeing him around the halls next year," she pointed out. "I wish I could just skip senior year and move on to college with you guys. Its so unfair, you and Edward, and Emmet get to go on without me," she pouted, picking up the dress I had discarded.

"Its not like I'm going to be hanging around them. I mean I'm sure I'll find time for Emmett but other than that I'm all on my own. Hopefully, my roommate is bearable" I shuddered, thinking of a girl version of Edward or worse another Lauren. Or worse actually Lauren!

"Give me another," I demanded. "It's freakin' cold and I'm practically naked. Trying on clothes was not my favorite activity.

"Here, this one is strapless, so lose the bra tootse."

I put on the dress, smoothing it out and sizing myself up in the mirror. I had no idea why I was letting this bother me so much. I wouldn't even go if it wouldn't upset so many people.

"No. I don't love it. I said pulling it off and setting it aside, scanning the bed for one that I liked. The bed was a mess of colors and fabrics.

Then there was a soft knock. I swirled around to the sound as Alice mindlessly answered with a simple ' come in'. I gaped at her, then stepped right then back left, my brain all scrambled.

Please be Esme I chanted in my head.

No luck. I was like a deer frozen in front of the mountain lion.

"Alice, have you seen—Fuck"

I twirled around at the sound of his voice.

"Jesus Christ," I heard him hiss. I could feel my face flaming red as finally got my mind to start working with my legs, throwing myself into the pile of clothes on the bed and burying myself.

"Alice!" I shouted, muffled by the layers of dresses of course. "What the hell?!"

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking. You hear a knock you say come in…" I could hear the apology in her voice.

"What did you need anyway, Edward?" Alice asked. I was glad I couldn't see his face.

I heard nothing for a few seconds, then a clearing of his voice.

"What? Never mind. I'll…" and then a few seconds later the door closed and I could tell, even though I couldn't actually see, that Edward had left.

"Oh. My. God. Alice!"

"I know. I know. I'm so sorry, Bella. Oh, I'll make it up to you. I swear" She pleaded.

"How by learning how to reverse time and go back five minutes?!" I shouted, exasperated.

"I'm so embarrassed. Probably the most embarrassed I've ever been. You're brother just saw…well everything. Oh my god. I'm never coming out from under here."

"Oh stop. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. He's probably taking a cold shower right now because of you."

"Yeah right, he hates me and now he's going to use this to torment me. Make fun of my ass or my boobs or something." I groaned.

"Yeah, right." She scoffed. "You know you're gorgeous." She couldn't see me but I rolled my eyes.

" I feel worse for Edward." I could practically hear her smirk. " He's going to be 'uncomfortable' for a while, if you catch my drift."I couldn't think about that. No, I needed to get out of here.

I sat up suddenly; blasting articles of clothes all over like a bomb went off.

"Let's go shopping for a dress. I need to get out of here."


	5. Chapter 5

I had been staring at myself in the mirror for at least the last ten minutes, maybe more. I knew what I was doing. I was trying to find an excuse to not go next door. The reason I did not want to go next door, didn't really have too much to do with the fact that there would be a ton of people there, many of which would not even talk to me, or the fact that the party was in celebration of Edward's 18th birthday, which was a big deal, really considered the biggest life changing year, since this is where it all starts for Lumen people.

The problem was I didn't know how I would handle myself around Edward when I did see him. It all had to do with the night of graduation. Maybe it was the sentimentality of it all, but Edward had been weird that night and weird with me.

For so long with Edward, he's been such a jerk to me. Always saying hurtful things, taking small jabs, giving me hostile looks, like I punched a puppy or something. So why did he have to throw me through such a loop. I mean sure he was pretty drunk. I don't think he'd ever been so drunk. It's the only thing that made sense, because he wasn't making any of that.

"_Hell, Isabella," his velvety voice had a touch of mischief to it and his eyes lit up when I turned to see him standing behind me. I had wandered away from the party to the light house and climbed to the top, where I could see from there that the party was still raging, not far away._

_His voice had startled me slightly, but his presence shocked me, more-so. It was odd that he might have followed me, so I assumed it was just a coincidence that we were both here._

"_Edward, "I replied, when I knew I had control of my voice. I couldn't help but peruse his body. He had taken off his suit jacket and tie, his top couple buttons to his shirt undone. His hair was a mess and he has a bottle of what looked like whiskey in his hand._

"_Congratulations" I spoke when the silence and staring became too much._

"_You too." He said coolly before taking a wig from the bottle._

"_You better be careful up here. How much have you had to drink?"_

"_I'm not going to fall," he replied, but stumbled as he stepped forward, making me muffle a laugh._

"_Yeah you look really stable. Just remember you haven't gone through the change yet. Save the dare devil stuff to when your strong enough to live through it. My tone was only slightly sarcastic._

"_Practically invincible" he agreed, looking off into the water._

"_Must be nice." I don't know why I say it. I basically just opened the door for him to insult me and my average-ness._

"_There is the whole living up to extremely high expectation and people depending on you part. No big deal, though, right," he asks in a non humorous way. It surprises me suddenly that we're having this conversation. Its so normal. Edward hardly ever talks to me directly and never this openly or even nicely._

"_You must be really drunk," I told him, with a smile._

_He looked at m confused. "Why do you say that?"_

_I gave him a look, raising one eyebrow. "You treat me like the plague. You hate me. This is not normal."_

_He doesn't reply but I felt him move a step closer as we both lean over the railing, looking over the water._

_After a long time, he finally spoke. "Now that we've graduated. It would probably be best for you if you leave this town, go somewhere far away, go to school or whatever and never come back."_

_I sucked in a sharp breath, even though this is more like the Edward I know. I swallowed a couple times, trying to fight back my tears._

"_Are you the official spokes person for the 'lets run Isabella out of town' committee?_

"_You think I like being stuck here, always on the outside never seen as good enough, talked about like I'm some kind of pariah for mistakes and decisions that weren't even mine to make. I HATE that my life up until this point has pretty much been in the hands of something else."_

_I'm on a rant that I've probably saved up for the past 8 years and am unable to stop. Edward just stared, his face blank of emotion._

"_But don't get the idea that I want your pity or anyone else's. I appreciate all the wonderful things I have been given and I am who I am because of the challenges I face, so when I leave, IF I leave, I will take all those wonderful moments and feelings with me. And I won't for one second think of your face or your name ever again. It will be like you never existed. But YOU will have no effect on my going. Do you understand that? You have no say in my life! So don't you dare try and tell me what to do, understand?!"_

_I angrily wipe away the few tears that have leaked from my eyes. Pissed off that my tear ducts are attached to my anger._

_As I do that, I watch Edward take one more long pull before pitching the bottle over the railing. I stare down to where it disappears._

"_Don't cry," he orders._

"_I'm not!" I shout, sounding like an idiot._

_Then I'm pulled into his arms and held so tightly I can hardly breathe. I can smell the strong smell of alcohol and feel the heat from Edward's body against mine._

"_I don't want to make you cry. I never…It would have been … I just know …" Edward is talking at me, but his head is against my neck, muffling half of his words. I can't figure out what he's saying or if he's talking to me or himself. _

"_I hate seeing you. Everyday, its just a reminder…I can't take…Please, just go. Go and don't come back. I need you to free…from…pain…"_

"_Then let me go!" I shout, pulling back from his grasp._

"_If my existence is so horrible for you, what are you doing up here, just let me go!" I bit out and with a forceful tug, pull myself free._

_I fly down the stairs and back into the open air, trying to find my breath._

_It's then I realize I have to go back to the party to find Emmett, so I can get home. I don't feel like seeing anyone right now._

"_Isabella, wait!" I hear him stumbling from behind. I clenched my eyes tightly._

"_I know I'm an asshole. I didn't mean it like that." He begins and he actually looks upset._

"_You are lucky, you know. You get to make your own destiny. You may not have had much say so far, but you do from here on out…while I…I know my destiny is pretty much set. There are so many things I can't do because I have to think about the future…"_

"_Like what?" I ask._

"_Like…like…"_

"_Bells! Eddie!" a loud booming voice shouts from the approaching jeep. "A two for one," Emmett exclaims jovially to Alice, sitting shot gun._

"_Get in, we're heading home. Alice said you'd be here Bell, but what the hell are you doing hanging with Edward? You two finally kiss and make up?"_

"_Ha, hardly. Edward can't kiss a girl anyways. He has to wait for his special someone, "I tease, climbing in._

"_Just like you," I add, hitting Emmett on the back of the head. " Thanks for coming to get me."_

"_Course…you ok?" He asks, looking me over._

"_Fine." I give a small smile and buckle myself in._

_Edward, not so stealthily climbs in back too and I'm more than a little hyper aware of his presence._

_About three minutes into the drive and he appears to be asleep._

_When we get to the house, Emmett hits him a couple times but Edward doesn't even budge._

"_Let him sleep it off here then." Emmet announces as he gets out. Alice follows suit and I'm left unsure what to do. Should I just leave him be. Would he be ok?_

"_Edward," I whisper in his ear a couple times, trying to coax him awake. He mumbles in his sleep and turns his head slighting. He's laying across the seat while I lean over him with the door open and try again._

"_You were wrong," he mumbled whispers, his eyes are still closed, so I can't tell if he's awake or sleep talking. "I don't have to wait… I could show you"_

"_Show me what?" I whisper confused and, for some reason, nervous._

_And then his head moves upward towards mine and without warning his lips softly touch mine. I gasp and then freeze as I feel his soft lips against mine. I feel his hand come up and cup my face as he presses his lips into mine more forcefully, and then slides his tongue into my mouth, deepening the kiss. My mind is on overload at the sensation. He sighs into my mouth and then drops his head back down, as he releases me. _

_I'm utterly speechless and my heart is beating out of my chest._

_He mumbles something else I can't make out, but other than that seems to be asleep. Like a coward I run as fast as I can back into the house._

_What the hell just happened, I think to myself, and can't get to sleep for the rest of the night._

I've concluded since that night that Edward was just really drunk and maybe felt guilty for how he always treats me. I can't think about the kiss. That was again a drunken accident. He was probably unconscious when it happened. I know when I go to the Cullen's tonight, Edward will be his normal asshole self and all will be right in the world.


End file.
